THE SECRETS OF ASPHALDITE

by Udyan Sharma

  “Shouldn’t you say aunt instead of a girl, my dear mom,” he interrupted her and gave her a hug with an attitude of rapture; “Oh my poor mom!”

  “Just stop kidding David. You’ve grown up,” she said while pinching him over his flat stomach and putting his head over her shoulder; “I don’t need your father. After all, you are always with me.”

  She ordered a cup of coffee and while reading the newspaper, shared the experiences of her childhood with David.

  The Pursuit Of The Omitted Archeologist

  “Hey mom! Why don’t you have a cup of tea instead of looking out again and again through that bantam window,” said David while he was reading the daily newspaper.

  “No, David, I just want to be alone for some time. If you could please leave me alone and concentrate on your work,” replied Mrs. Jane; her mind completely concerned for Mr. Charles.

  “Yeah sure! As you wish,” he replied to her and left the room while keeping the newspaper over the shelf from which he had picked it up.

  Far away from Zurich, in Greece, Mr. Charles was busy in the search of artifacts which could fill his museums with eminence or more probably, with attractive relics. His peers esteemed his struggle and allegiance towards his work. Also, for them, he was a pioneer.

  He had collected a lot of artifacts from that site and as he collected them, he used to send them to the Greek Archeological Department for research and investigation, while some to Zurich for the adornment of his mansion.

  He loved swords and shields but his esteem for crowns and arrows was beyond everything but obviously not beyond his family.

  It had been only ten days and Mr. Charles was very much nosey to know the history of Asphaldite as he knew that if, somehow; exactly very tough, he could find Scythe, it would mean the world to him but it was not that much tranquil as he knew the revenge of Zeus which he had taken from Chronos; while the reason being very much woozy.

  One day, it was the time of dusk and Mr. Charles had not returned back to his camp after his day’s excavation at the site of Asphaldite. His associates were vexed regarding him but there was no sign of him. The Greek Police, endeavored its best to find him but they too were aggravated. What was it going on? Earlier Susan and now Mr. Charles. Too galling to say, except everything, only a cloth remnant of Mr. Charles was located. This report was soon conveyed to Zurich as well; leaving his family in another misery.

  Mrs. Jane knew that something callous would surely happen as, earlier, her heart was not assenting that Mr. Charles would be living securely and contentedly in Greece. She was not able to think rationally and kept on crying internally and lost her outer spirit, which could only be replaced when Mr. Charles would come and assure her that everything was safe and fine but how could that be possible, it had been around a month since Mr. Charles was lost. Was eleventh January 2025 going to be his death date and the expiry date of his life insurance or there was a different aspect; looking through which everything looked different and perplexing. Mrs. Jane couldn’t do anything rather than keeping her both hands together but David, her son, could surely help her as he was an intellectual businessman and could perform any good deed for Mr. Charles, who had adored him the most and always kept him in the exhilaration of paradise without the deficiency of anything. He opted to fly to Greece, and on his own, check and quest for his father.

  It took him around five hours to reach Greece. Without ravaging any time, he hastily went to the site from where Mr. Charles had vanished. He endeavored a lot and put each and every speck of his spirit’s core in locating his father. An idea, which could be an imprudent move, dashed into his mind and he hurriedly put hands over his shirt’s chest pocket, the back pockets of his denim but eventually found his cellphone in the bag, which he was carrying along with him. It included all the crucial excavating tools in case he faces any hindrance in front of him while locating his father.

  The situation was very much tranquil to cognize but the foremost delinquent being the battery of his cellphone. It was around two percent; which meant that it was about to die while leaving dreams of David in vain but David, being a valiant person and an intellectual, rapidly opened his cellphone and search for the global positioning system (GPS) in his phone and while tapping it, he waited for the app to open. It opened in five seconds and only a few following seconds could remark the typing speed of David as he quickly searched for his father’s location.

  The app took some time to show his father’s location and till the time it displayed the results, he had a few sips of water and got ready for a pursuit, which could be possibly perilous or more exactly to say, venturesome. David knew that the battery of his father’s cellphone would be dead too but on the other hand, he also trusted the app of his cellphone and believed that it could probably, more on less, tell the recent location of Mr. Charles. “Yes!” He said riotously with an essence full of elation. The app was screening his father’s recent location to be somewhere around the speck where he was standing but regrettably, the phone’s battery, after few seconds, without even allowing him to locate his father, died and now he could only assume but not be sure of Mr. Charles location.

  “Shit Man! I always suspected the battery of this pathetic phone, being completely inept and impractical. I told dad to buy me a new phone but he always said me to use this inoperable phone just because, it was gifted by one of his friends. Do you still need an explanation? Umm! What the hell is this,” he said frantically in an agitated manner but without mislaying optimism, he said, “Now lets see, where is he having his lunch?”

  He moved on from the speck where his phone had deceived him but with full poise, he kept on moving in the direction which his cellphone had disinterestedly shown him. He was determined; his intention being the pursuit of his awol father. He tried all the directions shown by the rubbish app of his cellphone but eventually he landed on a speck where, his heart had forced him to come but, he being completely oblivious of the working of his app, had opted to move in the direction shown by it; but as it is said, “We must think with our mind but not with our heart and we must execute with our heart but not with our mind as a work performed with a heart is a work performed with a prolific start.”

  David knew that the speck on which he was standing had something eccentric but what was it; he took a little time but at the end, he fathomed that he was standing on a big rock, which being of a most unusual shape, was the only one which could be found in that whole two thousand acres of land; popularly known as Asphaldite. Without even wasting a single second and having fathomed the magnitude of that rock along with its significance, thought to shatter it with the help of an iron mallet, which was still kept in his hefty rucksack, which contained most of the tools entailed by him.

  He released the fastener of his bag and being oblivious of the location of the mallet in that hefty bag, began to search for it in order to accomplish his target. This time, he was indomitable and now no power of the world could hinder him, perhaps, taunt him.

  He hastily started shattering that rigid piece of rock but he, having shattered half of it, started wheezing. “Phew! Just taking a nap for a second; only few, not more than that,” he told his soul and somehow fell asleep.

  Precipitously, his eyes widened and mouth opened broad; “Lets shatter this off, my dear mallet!” he said while osculating his mallet and rubbing his hands; “Come on; Now do some work babes,” he knocked the mallet on the rock with such an intense potency that he, himself was shaken up but the result being very much in his favour; he had shattered down the rock into two pieces and scrutinized the highly astounding fact that there was a small tunnel which led to a hoary archive which was millions of years primitive and had the distinction of being exclusively embellished.

  The moment he entered the tunnel, he got the first spooky brunt; it was obviously not a group of bats or snakes, which, in most timeworn anecdotes are the focal edginess of the whole tale. It was truly horrible to a reticent person like him as he witnessed some burni
ng torches with bright yellow flames.

  “Oh Jesus! How is it possible? It’s splendid,” he complimented the tunnel in the perception of duly flattering it in his favor; which was rather not possible. Precipitously, a voice which was like a deep-throated growl of a tigress, was at that moment, the only thing which clutched his courtesy. It was the second spooky brunt which he got; the opening through which he had entered the veiled tunnel, had now, got covered with another big rock of the same kind.

  The situation was like this: David was thoroughly enclosed from all the sides but he didn’t think himself to be engulfed in an immense menace, rather he was relishing the embellishment of that exclusively enameled tunnel, which was around two miles long; it being of a very unusual shape was broad from where it started and narrowed at the end, which was significantly the entrance of a library or more probably, a primordial archive. The substantial splendor of that tunnel was the rows of torches hung on the wall through hoary wires, which revitalized that gloomy tunnel a hundred times and the foremost fact being that they were being used at the time of King Zudite, when Asphaldite was the capital of western Greece. He got to know that, only after he had read Asphaldite on the torches, which was eventually written in a monospaced typewriter font. The torches were made up of some historic category of Iron which were noted for their distinction of being able to abide the effect of moisturized air and without getting rusted, that category of iron could linger perpetual for millions of years. The name Asphaldite was imprinted on them by using blue rubies which were highly desired at that time and King Zudite was one of them who could, undoubtedly afford those rubies without any glitch.

  It was actually a shortcut for David as he had entered that vivid tunnel after a speck which was around one mile from the broad starting of the tunnel. He had no other option than to move for one mile and wait until the archive arrived.

  He started running and after some time reached the colossal entrance of the archive. He was not able to cognize the way to unbolt that gigantic door but endeavoured with all his valor. That door had an emblem of Asphaldite, which was centrally located on that hefty iron door and reflected the sway and dominance of Asphaldite.

  The emblem was very much multifaceted to cognize but for an intellectual like David, it was no great snag. The most familiar relic that David was cognizant with, on that emblem was, the Scythe, which was shown to be in the hand of King Zudite, instead of Chronos, the real bearer of it.

  King Zudite was also known as the “aficionado of Scythe” as he wanted to achieve Scythe; it being his foremost goal and for achieving it, he could go to any extent, even slay down millions of people if mandatory. There was a hidden secret behind the dominions of Zudite but no one knew, what exactly it was and what could his slaves do, if they could ever get to know that secret. They were, however, obliged by the supremacies of Zudite, the monarch of Asphaldite and command of Earth.

  However, in the end, David was able to find the method to unbolt that colossal gateway; the only way to that noteworthy archive. It was simple, rather very simple but a little bit demanding. It was supposed to be unbolted by sliding the index finger round the emblem of Asphaldite and as the fingers would take four rounds, the door would begin to sink into a narrow stream of water, which surrounded it and eventually after few minutes, it would automatically slide up if the index finger was removed from the space provided for keeping the finger but David was cognizant of only half of the truth.

  He fixed his middle finger on the space provided and started making four rounds through it. As he finished the fourth round, the door started to sink in water and along with it, his finger too, was sinking in the water, as the door went down into the stream. He shivered and finally took out his finger from the crevasse. Only a single second could remark the unbolting of the door but precipitously, it started floating and closed again with a sound compared to the hitting of flowing water with some hill ravines.

  David endeavoured for the second time but this time, he fixed his mallet between the door and the marble roof and hastily jumped over from the fissure and finally entered the archive.

  What a splendid and marvelous prospect it was. David had not been, a part of a situation like that and it was purely miraculous for him. It was a colossal archive with a lot of chandeliers, each at six yards from each other, making it completely vivid. It was like that King Zudite had visited that place recently. He was alarmed to see the thousands of books and piles of paper lying over there but the most spectacular of all being, an enormous black coloured book with hoary brownish pages, alleged to be encompassed with toxic spirits and, it being the most eerie book of all times was an orthodox example of primeval paper art but David, being completely oblivious of that fact, moved that book from its consecrated location.

  “The Secret of Asphaldite. Black Magic. Scythe. Confidential. The person trying to open this sacred book shall go back in past or bury instantly at this holy place! Zeus,” David read the cover page of that book, lightly took the mentioned points and the consequences being very much punitive; that archive started shaking and in a few minutes, it ruined completely.

  “Hello! May I know who’s this,” said Mrs. Jane while picking up the phone call from Greece.

  “Hello! Is it Mrs. Jane Oester.”

  “Yes.”

  “Madam, I’m speaking from the Greek Archeological Department. I wanted to convey the message that David is missing and there is no sign of Mr. Charles as well. God knows where have they disappeared,” a person from Greece said in guilt, while his tone intended to convey sympathetic comprehension towards the disappearance of David and Mr. Charles.

  “What?”; she was shocked to listen that once again. She had lost the desire of living and the aspiration of dying. The phone call was automatically cut as her cellphone slipped on the ground from her hand and had shattered into pieces.

  She was so much hapless, wretched and full of griefs as the most exquisite charms and jewels of her crux and life were not with her.

  The Secrets Of Asphaldite

  As we move back to the primeval stint, we come across a variety of kings and rulers but if we move back more than that, we find the epics of mythological Gods, whose tales of viciousness and audacity shakes our heart and leads us on an enlivening voyage of thrill, conspiracy, amorousness and vindictiveness as well.

  It was the candid epic which had its existence millions of years ago, shortly after the formation of the consecrated planet - Earth. It had its origin in the sacred land of Greece.

  It was a murky night and the proficient of all things being the gloomily clouds which allowed the biased rays of moonlight to pass through them, after the twilight, had shown their trepidation and ecstasy as well.

  The Goddess, perhaps, the wife of everlasting of all had given heirs to the monarch and God of heaven. They were prevailing, vehement and forbidding for the people of Greece and being five less than twenty, they all were fifteen in all and given the superior name of Titans.

  Titans were colossal brutes with detrimental sentiments and inimical hearts but one of them was the most formidable; he was none other but one from the massive Titans - Chronos.

  He was a lurid nightmare for the people of Greece, who created revulsion in the hearts of people as he moved. All the other Titan were under his jurisdiction but they, being his siblings, never exterminated them.

  Chronos was not immortal when he was born but soon became immortal after he butchered his father with his dominant weapon, Scythe. Scythe, at that stint was the utmost prevailing weapon, and in order to elucidate its influence; it is still veiled under a speck, and no one has enough clout to locate that speck; it being on a baffling place.

  Scythe was a potent weapon and only worked in the hands of Chronos but if it was taken away from him, he would become fragile, so he kept it always in his hands; whether day or night. It had some bizarre clouts, best to explain, it was very sharp, pointed from the top and whenever it used to touch someone, the person was not able to
move, followed by an instant death.

  Chronos was the controller of time and had become the God of heaven too after killing his father with a well executed plan. He didn’t have the deficiency of anything but wanted descendants to his supremacy, so he married a beautiful charming lady named Rhea. She was very much exultant after marrying him but she didn’t actually know that her partner would do such a worst thing to the heirs of their might.

  One night when Chronos was sleeping, he had a dream, which was worst of all dreams wondered by him earlier. A person, most probably his father told him that his heirs would overthrow him of his kingdom and ruin his powers. He was very much annoyed with that dream and deigned not to give birth to any children but his wife had a child nurturing in her foetus. After few months that child was born and not being an ordinary girl, she was an immortal girl with extreme potentials. Rhea, being very much weak and fatigued, completely oblivious of the dream of Chronos, brought and showed their child to him. She gave her a beautiful name - Demeter but she never knew that what was going to happen.

  “Rhea, my dear, could you please pass on that baby to me. Let me relish the glee of having a child. Come my baby! Come to your father,” he said to Rhea and took the child from her happily.

  He took the child in one of his arms and started to pat her. He moved his hand around her head but then precipitously, being in anger and the influence of that dream, he very much callously gobbled that child, his hands being full of blood and terror picked up the Scythe and went away from that chamber, leaving Rhea in grief and intense pain. She endeavoured to stop him a lot but all her endeavours went in vain as if they were going all their way to an abyss. Chronos didn’t care about Rhea amiss but simply went away from there without showing any sympathy.

  She sniveled a lot but once again she had a child named Poseidon. He was too chewed up by those relentless teeth of Chronos while filling his mouth with the essence of red blood, the most invigorating fact being the blood of his son, very much pertinent to say, his own son. He ate all of his children one-by-one in the same ruthless manner but there was one threat left for him, as Rhea, who didn’t know the intentions of her husband for the brutal slaying of his own children, had endeavored to save a child named Zeus from the terror of Chronos and when Chronos asked for him, she gave him a piece of huge rock wrapped around by a blanket, which he gobbled too without doubting on her esteemed wife.